Many American composers wished to create a distinctive American sound in their writing, one that would be different and distinct from European classical music. However, sometimes the way they went about finding this was not respectful or fair. American composers such as Dvorzak wanted to create something new and different than what Americans had heard before, however the way he went about doing this creates questions of the line that needs to be drawn between taking inspiration and stealing ideas. Many Native Americans had very beautiful music. However, many settlers came over and decided to steal the melodies of Native American folk tunes to commercialize them.

Dvorzak had a residency in the United States. Within this residency, “He believed the future of American music must be founded on the resources of the Native American, African American, and Creole American melodies and rhythms.” (1). Some may argue that this is a form of borrowing and appreciation of Native American music. Many pop artists today do collaborations with other artists, and receive help from many composers and producers to create their albums. However, the difference between those pop artists today and American composers in the past was that the collaborators on pop albums receive credit as well as a portion of the royalties from the music. On the other hand, the American composers in the past were stealing ideas from the Native American as well as African American population and not giving any sort of royalties or credit back to them. This is therefore instead of collaboration stealing ideas because the creation of this new music is rooted in colonization as well as exploitation of resources.

Many people were inspired by Dvorzak’s ideas and there was a movement created around this time called the “Indianist” movement, which involved stealing folk tunes from Native Americans and commercializing it to receive profit.

Amy Beach was another composer who was inspired by Dvorzak’s ideas and used Native American melodies and folk tunes for many of her compositions. However, after several compositions she realized that it would work better to use music that she was used to and grew up with instead of ideas from a culture she didn’t know. This is an interesting conclusion that she came to because it goes to show the lack of understanding Americans have towards Native American culture. Even when stealing ideas for the music, there is no way that others will be able to fully replicate the intricate details of the music, because it comes from the Native American culture. The only way to fully replicate these ideas would be to grow up as a Native American experiencing it. Therefore, despite the stealing and exploitation of ideas, no one will be able to take away the Native American culture and music away from them.

The issue of stealing ideas and exploitation of artists is still present today, as well as the lasting effects of colonization on marginalized groups. However, hopefully as a society we can move forward and create a better future for artists and marginalized groups to be able to live their life without being exploited or used.

Mercer, Stephanie. “An American Sound: Celebrating Native American Music through the ‘Indianist’ Movement and the American Piano Composer.” The American Music Teacher, vol. 71, no. 2, 2021, pp. 16-.